scholarly journals Public Policy Influences on Academia in the European Union

SAGE Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824401769516
Author(s):  
Dorian Aliu ◽  
Ayten Akatay ◽  
Armando Aliu ◽  
Umut Eroglu
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Social Model ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
European Public ◽  
Content Analyses ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Corporate Social

The aim of this research is to examine the public policy influences on academic investigations that contain a substantial convergence among human resource management–industrial relations and corporate social responsibility–stakeholder approach by means of using bibliometric and content analyses of relevant publications in the Scopus and ScienceDirect databases. Totally, 160 publications were subject to bibliometric, cluster, and summative content analyses. In this context, this study claims that public policy in the EU influences academic investigations and scholars. The investigation draws attention to the importance of active participation of different public institutions and key stakeholders (e.g., trade unions, works councils, academic associations) that prepare a basis for collaboration, solidarity, and communication for strengthening EU social model, social dialogue, collective bargaining, and the protection of social rights. The research findings illuminate the fact that European public policies have significant effects on shaping and encouraging investigations that are considered within the scope of IR–HRM and CSR–SA. One of the most crucial recommendations of this study is that the investigations which are out of this framework can be considered quite idealistic. Therefore, researchers may attempt to publish more scientific investigations in frame of IR–HRM and CSR–SA to enhance the comprehensiveness and depth of these two clusters.

The Conservative Party and the Trade Unions since 1974

1979 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Moran
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Conservative Party

Public policy on industrial relations can be interpreted as a variation on three traditional themes: individualism; voluntary collectivism; and compulsory collectivism. Before 1974 the Conservative Party had at various times been committed to policies suggested by all these traditions. Since the Party's expulsion from government in that year arguments between Conservatives over industrial relations have likewise involved choices between policies suggested by the three traditions. Despite superficial signs of a revival of individualism in the Party, the substance of policy has been decisively shaped by voluntary collectivism.

The concept of ‘flexicurity’: a new approach to regulating employment and labour markets

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ton Wilthagen ◽  
Frank Tros
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Labour Markets ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Work Organisation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The One ◽  
National Governments

This article deals with the new policy concept of ‘flexicurity’ in view of the emerging flexibility-security nexus currently faced by the European Union, national governments, sectors of industry, individual companies and workers. On the one hand there is a strong demand to make labour markets, employment and work organisation more flexible. At same time, an equally strong demand exists for providing security to employees – especially vulnerable groups – and for preserving social cohesion in our societies. Policy-makers, legislators, trade unions and employers’ organisations have a strong need for new theory-inspired policy models and concepts that promise to reconcile these goals of enhancing both flexibility and security that at first sight seem incompatible. This article discusses the origins, conditions and potential of ‘flexicurity’ as policy or strategy at various levels of industrial relations. It also outlines a research agenda.

(Counter-)Narrating European integration

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-122
Author(s):  
Martin Seeliger
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Social Model ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Social Standards ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Daunting Task ◽  
Important Challenge ◽  
The Common ◽  
Eastern And Western Europe

In order to maintain social standards within the European Union, trade unions have to overcome national differences to form common political positions. Especially against the background of the recent enlargement rounds, the crafting of such positions has become a daunting task. In this context, the European Services Directive has posed an important challenge to trade unions: The so-called ‘country of origin principle’ implied that workers were supposed to be employed in line with the standards of the sending- and not the receiving country. After lengthy discussions between representatives from Eastern and Western Europe, the trade unionists managed to form a joint political line and forced the European Commission to remove the principle. In order to challenge the hegemonic neoliberal narrative of the common market bringing freedom and prosperity to the countries of Europe, the article will show how the counternarrative of a European Social Model served as a reference frame for this joint position.

scholarly journals Social Solidarity for All? Trade Union Strategies, Labor Market Dualization, and the Welfare State in Italy and South Korea

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niccolo Durazzi ◽  
Timo Fleckenstein ◽  
Soohyun Christine Lee
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Socioeconomic Crisis

Challenging the new political-economic “mainstream” that considers trade unions to be “complicit” in labor market dualization, this article’s analysis of union strategies in Italy and South Korea, most-different union movements perceived as unlikely cases for the pursuit of broader social solidarity, shows that in both countries unions have successively moved away from insider-focused strategies and toward “solidarity for all” in the industrial relations arena as well as in their social policy preferences. Furthermore, unions explored new avenues of political agency, often in alliance with civil society organizations. This convergent trend toward a social model of unionism is ascribed to a response of unions to a “double crisis”: that is, a socioeconomic crisis, which takes the form of a growing periphery of the labor market associated with growing social exclusion, and a sociopolitical crisis, which takes the form of an increasing marginalization of the unions from the political process.

scholarly journals Can We Talk about European Public Policy in the Field of Sport?

2009 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-34
Author(s):  
Gyöngyi Földesi
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
European Union ◽  
Social Competence ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Lisbon Treaty ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Sport Policy ◽  
European Public ◽  
The Social

Can We Talk about European Public Policy in the Field of Sport?Despite the continuous deepening, development and enlargement, the members of the European Union still diverge in their policies and have to find a way to diminish this divergence. The social, economical and cultural significance of sport is well known in the whole of Europe. Accordingly, in the recent past, the various institutions of the European Union have come to pay more attention to sport issues. An important milestone of this was the European Commission issuing a White Paper on sport, and the inclusion of sport in the Lisbon Treaty. However the question is raised: Is there a European public policy of sport? The author's objective was to investigate this question. This paper aims to highlight the European sport policy and tries to find the answer to the following question: can we talk about European public policy in the field of sport? The research examines through the analysis of documents whether sport can be regarded as an element of public policy. We can talk about common public policy of a certain area if it corresponds to the following five criteria: content, social competence, coercive factor, normative orientation and programme. In the first part, the content and the social competence are analyzed, and then some critical issues of the definition, namely of the public policy will be discussed. In the opinion of the author, the most problematic criterion is the programme, which presumes at least a mid-term European sport conception. It is especially important that sport could fulfil its community building, identity-forming role to which it is suited in the continuously enlarging Europe. Finally the author draws the conclusion that the European sport policy corresponds partly to the above-mentioned criteria; however, the realization of the Pierre de Coubertin Action Plan included in the White Paper, and the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty can create opportunities for sport to become a public policy of the European Union.

Voluntary Cooperation Between NGOs and Corporations From the Perspective of German Trade Unions: A Micropolitical Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-112
Author(s):  
Florian Krause ◽  
Axel Haunschild
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Voluntary Agreements ◽  
German Trade ◽  
Nongovernmental Organisation ◽  
German System ◽  
Hybrid Character ◽  
The One ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Voluntary Cooperation

The article gives a micropolitical analysis of the position of German trade unions on voluntary agreements between nongovernmental organisation (NGOs) and corporations, mostly subsumed under the label CSR (corporate social responsibility). In the German system of industrial relations, trade unions have a hybrid character: On the one hand, they are part of the company through their members and especially through unionised works councils and share similar goals with the company. On the other hand, trade unions also merge political positions of society, keep an eye on companies’ actions, and share similar goals with NGOs. The micropolitical analysis of their positions towards voluntary agreements as well as their interaction raises general questions on how cooperation between firms and NGOs can secure decent working conditions and environmental protection.

Explaining Labor Weakness in Post-Communist Europe: Historical Legacies and Comparative Perspective

2004 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Crowley
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Labor Relations ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Social Model ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Actor ◽  
European Model ◽  
European Social Model ◽  
Communist Countries

With expansion of the European Union (EU), the transformation of industrial relations in Eastern Europe becomes increasingly important. Studies on labor relations in post-communist countries have flourished in recent years, yet these studies have not reached a consensus on what they seek to explain. Is labor in post-communist societies weak or (in some countries) strong? And strong or weak compared to what? To the extent labor is weak, what would explain this weakness? This study demonstrates that labor is indeed a weak social and political actor in post-communist societies, especially when compared to labor in Western Europe. The article examines a number of hypotheses that have been proposed to explain labor’s weakness, concluding that the institutional and ideological legacies of the communist period best explain this overall weakness. Because labor in post-communist societies more resembles American-style flexibility than the European “social model,” the ability to extend the European model to new EU entrants is questioned.

scholarly journals Impact of Flexicurity Policies on the Romanian Labor Market

ECONOMICS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-18
Author(s):  
Adriana Grigorescu ◽  
Arina Mihaela Niculescu Diaconu
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Human Resources Management ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Social Model ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Social Recovery ◽  
High Degree ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Along with joining the EU and with the desire to be compatible with the European labor market, flexicurity begins to penetrate gradually the Romanian labor market, becoming a topical concept, an economic and social recovery tool. In the simplest possible way, flexicurity can be defined as the compromise between flexibility and work safety. The flexicurity principle was born as a solution to the European dilemma: how to increase the competitiveness of European enterprises in global competition without sacrificing the European social model. Although a gradual passage is attempted, the tradition of a profession inherited from one generation to another or a stable job still exists in the human resource mentality, but it no longer exists in the present society. The concept of flexicurity is relatively new, introduced in Europe in 2006, when the principles of flexicurity were developed, but they were implemented according to the economic specificity of each EU member state. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects that EU accession has had on the Romanian labor market and the subsequent steps to harmonize Romania with the European Union requirements from the point of view of human resources management, flexicurity at the labor market. In Romania, the flexicurity balance is balanced, in the sense that the trade unions support a broader level of security, and the employers tend to a greater degree of flexibility. In conclusion, the Romanian labor market to develop a high degree of flexicurity must aim at increasing employment and reducing long-term unemployment, promoting workplace security and reducing the rigidity of labor law, especially in case of voluntary dissolution of firms, or of collective redundancies. In addition, the flexibility of collective and individual work contracts is also sought.

What’s in a Name? The Rise (and Fall?) of Flexicurity

2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Auer
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Social Model ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Uncertain Future ◽  
Hiring And Firing

The term ‘flexicurity’ was coined by politicians, researchers and, most prominently, the European Commission as an encompassing labour market reform agenda for the 27 member countries of the European Union. As part of the European social model it offered an alternative to the Anglo Saxon ‘flexibility of the labour market’ mantra and attracted widespread attention around the world, lately also in the USA and in Australia. The recent global financial crisis, which often saw internal adjustment by shortening hours of work instead of external adjustment through lay-offs, has challenged the original concept based on easier hiring and firing coupled with sound social protection for the unemployed. Also the increasing irritation of trade unions with the term, coupled with mounting scepticism among researchers and uncertainties in support from a newly nominated EU Commission, means that the concept faces an uncertain future. However, the present widespread critique of flexicurity will probably not lead to the demise of the various policies that the term comprises, but to reinforcing internal adjustment options and supporting policies. At stake may be also a renaming of the concept.

scholarly journals In Search of Employee Perspective: Understanding How Lithuanian Companies Use Employees Representatives in the Adoption of Company’s Decisions

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Civinskas ◽  
Dvorak
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Employee Participation ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Employee Perspective ◽  
Social Dialogue ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
Employment Conditions ◽  
Research Findings

The article analyzes the factors of the use of employees’ representatives in the adoption of a company’s decision in Lithuanian companies. The methodology of current research is based upon the data collected through a quantitative expert-based survey and qualitative interviews with representatives of trade unions. The survey method has been used in order to obtain the data from the experts involved in the field of industrial relations in Lithuania. The interviews with representatives of trade unions gives a possibility to look at how people perceive the employee participation methods proposed by the employers, what benefits they see in their use and what policy does their organization or collective apply towards these means (trade unions etc.). According to the research findings, the employee’s participation is called a social dialogue at the company level. The results of the current research in favor evaluate the constructive cooperation between the employee representatives and employers (when this does not encompass important areas of industrial relations (i.e., collective agreements, negotiations regarding wages, employment conditions etc.)).

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